How To Identify Pine Trees
- 1). Look for needles, which stand in for leaves as pines' style of foliage. Some pines may have shorter needles than others, due to either age or species difference, but for the most part pine needles tend to grow around six to 10 inches long and stay evergreen until they die.
- 2). Scout out pine cones. These can vary in size across species, but they can easily be recognized as scaly, egg-shaped balls. They may be seen on the ground in forests or even in more urban areas, and although they may not be directly under a tree, this usually signifies that there is a pine tree somewhere nearby.
- 3). Find cylindrical yellow, green and red flowers. These tend to look like baby pine cones and are often mistaken as such. They bud in clumps near the tips of twigs or short branches.
- 4). Look for shallow fissures in the bark. Adult pine trees will have reddish-brown bark with shallow cracks and fissures. Some species also tend to have thin scales on their bark that may flake off with age.
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